The Same Thing We Do Every Night, Timmy
by Adreus
Summary: It's the night before Batman leaves, and Tim has some concerns. —Tim, Dick, Barbara, and fluff.


**Notes: **One of my favorite things about Father's Day is seeing what goes on in fandom. It's nice to see all the love that Bruce gets. :) Batfamily fluff to follow~

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_The Same Thing We Do Every Night, Timmy_

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It's a day before The Day, the night before Batman and the other leaguers embark for their trial off in space, and the vigilante in question is, of course, out trying to get as many baddies as he can in Arkham for as long as possible. Gotham's streets will by no means be cleansed, obviously, but they'll be as clean as Batman can get them for however long he's gone, and Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin won't have their hands as full as they would have been. It's all very noble of Batman; he goes about the task alone for the night, insists that Dick, Barbara, and Tim stay at the manor with Alfred and enjoy their night off, because they're in for some rough nights soon afterwards.

It's all very sweet, they suppose, as they wave at him leaving in the Batmobile, except it's painfully obvious that Batman just wants to spend the night with Catwoman. He's gone for about five seconds before Dick breaks out into snickers and Barbara shakes her head, and Tim looks all flushed, and he tries timidly, "So, um, do you guys get the whole 'stay clear of Catwoman' speech too because I-", before he's cut off by a double dose of "_Yes_."

"Okay," he says. "Just making sure."

"Well," says Dick, draping his arms around Barbara and Tim, and leading them up into the manor, "No use staying down here, right? Let's get Alfie to make us some unhealthy desserts." And the three of them head out of the Cave and into the warmth waiting for them up above, Dick telling stories about all the encounters he had with Catwoman and all of what Tim should definitely do if he ever encounters her, because it riles Bruce up and it's a sight worth seeing. Barbara rolls her eyes and mutters something or other about Dick being obnoxious, but she snorts at one of Dick's tales and when Tim and Dick just look at her, she has to admit that, okay, riling up Bruce _is _really fun.

Dick manages to convince Alfred that Tim is allergic to something or other in the store bought brand (which, incidentally, Tim is not allergic to, and Alfred is not convinced that he is, but he shakes his head and goes along with it), so at ten at night the trio band together under Alfred's mentorship and set out to create something resembling home made ice cream. It takes them a few minutes and Barbara punching Dick before they settle on a flavor, and then they're rolling around a can of ice on the table, stopping periodically to shake it up nicely to get the right texture of ice cream (Barbara and Dick do this with great pleasure and climb onto the table, while Tim sinks into his chair, watching with his face red, and Alfred nods calmly, adjusted by now to this kind of behavior from his charges). Finally, Barbara pronounces the ice cream ready and they take a spoon and scoop some out and grin at each other before stuffing it in Alfred's unsuspecting mouth.

A moment, and then a thumbs up.

"You're the best, Alfie!" exclaims Dick, as though Alfred doesn't know that already, and they each grab a spoon and head off to the TV, where certainly there's something for them to watch. Tim sits between Dick and Barbara on the sofa and is promptly proclaimed the Bat Ice Cream Holder Person, so the can goes in his lap and he's given permission to complain about a cold crotch for the rest of the night, so long as Barbara has control of the remote and Dick gets to talk as much as he likes throughout whatever it is they end up watching—which doesn't seem like a fair deal, because Dick's talking as much as he wants is easily translated to Dick's talking forever, but Barbara's got the remote, and the remote has control of the TV's volume, so it'll _probably _be okay.

"So what're we watching?" is Tim's question as Barbara and Dick take a scoop of the ice cream and make faces at the initial taste's awfulness, but the aftertaste seems to be better, because they both pause and Dick shrugs and Barbara says, "Hmm. Not that bad." Tim takes a curious taste right after the others and it tastes _awful_, bitter and nasty and _ew_, and he's not sure if Dick and Barbara were trolling him or if they actually like it, so he closes his eyes and does his best to swallow without tasting despite his gag reflex, and then he quietly sets his spoon down, planning to get some of the stuff to which he's allegedly allergic.

"Dunno, little bro," says Dick, and he turns to Barbara with a grin, "What're we watchin' tonight, Babs?"

Barbara turns the TV on and pulls up the guide. On the side of the screen there's some news report going on about superheroes, and it's relevant to their interests so they listen with one ear (except for Tim, who listens with both) and go through the movie channels they've got going for them. Barbara finds something she wants to watch and changes the channel, and they settle into each other as the show begins and Dick wolf whistles when the attractive lead shows up, says, wiggling his eyebrows, "Bab_sy_!" Barbara doesn't think this is funny, so she elbows Tim and tells him to pass it on, and it is passed, and Dick snickers because, let's be real, Tim's elbowing isn't much compared to Barbara's, and then they settle into the movie again. It's action packed, so it manages to keep Barbara's attention quite wonderfully, but the romance isn't sappy enough for Dick's tastes, and Tim thinks the writing is absolutely atrocious—so of course it instantly becomes a Batfamily classic for some other villainless day. By the film's end, the three of them have sunk into the sofa and are closer together, and it's warm and comfortable and they're all too lazy to pull apart, so they just sort of lie there as the credits roll by.

That's when Barbara thinks to open up the guide again, and with the guide comes the same news channel that was on earlier, talking smack about Superman and the Green Lanterns and Wonder Woman, which the three of them easily ignore—it's when they start throwing crap in Batman's direction that Barbara shuts the TV off and carefully sets the remote down. "What a load of bull."

The boys tacitly agree, and they fall into a silence. It's comfortable, but it's full of their thoughts hovering above them, and they all know they're thinking of Batman and of Bruce and of planets light years away, where who knows what will happen to their mentor or their father or their friend, but it doesn't seem like it'll be good. What's hidden behind rotten homemade ice cream and rotten, horrific movies, is a fear not for their safety, but for Bruce's, and Bruce probably saw that, or else Dick would be in Blüdhaven and Barbara would be studying for her classes at university and Tim would be at home with his father, for once spending time with him after the paralysis, but they're all here, one night before they need to be.

"It's understandable, I guess," says Dick quietly, after some time. "They're coming from an entirely different perspective."

The other two don't say anything in response. It's a minute or so later when Tim pipes up, "Dick? You're coming back to Gotham for a bit, right?"

"Yeah. We'll have our hands full, bro."

"Mmm." A moment, as Tim thinks on that. "We really do have to keep up the appearance that Batman's still around, huh? Bruce can easily go on vacation, but half of Gotham's criminals are easily subdued by the Batman just because he's the Batman."

Barbara laughs and pulls herself out of the depths of the sofa. "You think Dick can fit in Bruce's costume, Tim?"

Tim frowns. "He'll _have _to, if we want to keep this up." He hesitates, biting his lips, and then murmurs something that the other two don't hear.

Dick's curious eyebrows shoot up. "What was that, Tim?"

Tim sighs, and says louder, clearer, and completely serious: "You'll need to practice the voice and everything."

A beat. Barbara and Dick look at each other, bewildered, and it all takes a moment to process: Dick in Batman's cowl, a scowl permanently embedded on his face, barking out orders and intimidating villains into jail by sandpapering his throat. It sounds all too silly, and yet, they've all imagined it before, so it's not the idea _itself _that's weird, just that it could ever come to be. Somewhere in the back of his mind Tim remembers a cold Gotham night, sitting on a gargoyle and listening to Dick's voice explaining how he became Nightwing, what being Batman had always meant to him, and what it didn't mean now, and presently Tim sits tense and waits for Dick to say something, and he's expecting something cold and serious from the unreadable expression on his older brother's face—but that's when Dick clears his throat and tries in the raspiest voice he can muster, "You think I can't handle this, Robin?"

...

...—

"_Dick_," gasps Barbara between giggles, while Tim struggles to stop his choking long enough to say, "That was _awful_."

Dick looks positively hurt, and he tries again, "You can't be serious," but his voice kind of cracks at the end, and Barbara totally snorts, and it's all very attractive in the room, with Tim doubled over in laughter and Dick trying to get his voice back to normal and Barbara attempting to fix _her_ laughter into something she deems presentable. Alfred chooses that moment to walk in on the three, sees that they're busy, and presumably walks out with the ice cream concoction, because later Tim will stumble upon it in the trash can (where, truly, it belongs) where none of their number will take it.

"_No_!" exclaims Tim once he's caught his breath, "That's not what Batman sounds like at all!"

"Yeah?" Dick replies. "If you think it's so _easy_, why don't _you _try it?"

Tim looks like he's just been called out for liking the latest mainstream boy band, and he shakes his head fiercely fast, stammers out, "Wh-what? _I'm _not the one that has to wear the cowl!"

"You're just scared your voice will break," Dick says, matter-of-factly.

Tim glares at him. "_Yours _already did_."_

"Ladies, ladies, please," cuts in a voice that has both of them freeze, and they turn to Barbara, who's got her face contorted up and is evidently trying way too hard to sound like a smoker, "Settle down, you're both pretty."

"_Babs_."

"Oh my _god_."

"How are you _doing _that?"

Barbara's throat makes a few strange, alien sounds, and for a moment she tries to say something, but she can't. She stares inquisitively out at the wall and the ceiling as she tries to commandeer her body; once she thinks she's settled, the boys watching her intently, she nods once and then tries, "Woman's magic." And it's _perfect_, and Dick and Tim look at each other, say almost simultaneously, "_Damn_."

Immediately after which the same voice speaks from the doorway, "I'm impressed."

The three of them whirl around with wide eyes to see Bruce standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face. He's not wearing his costume, so he doesn't glide toward them, and he looks kind of goofy in his sweater vest when he speaks in the Batman voice, but the trio on the sofa still don't really know what to say, so Barbara resorts to, "Um," and Tim resorts to, "Uh," and Dick says, "Hey, Bruce, how was Silena?" to which Barbara elbows Tim, who passes the message onto Dick, who snickers because, let's be real, Tim's elbow isn't as powerful as Barbara's, and the glare that follows isn't as powerful as Bruce's would've been.

"She was excellent," says Bruce, shrugging, "unlike your attempt at the voice, Dick. Take lessons from Barbara while I'm gone. More in the throat."

And then he turns around, and he's gone.

"Barbara?"

"Yeah, Tim?"

"He did just smile, right?"

"Right."

"And Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"More in the throat."

"Gotcha, little bro."


End file.
